Creating great music for yourself is one thing. Creating it to share with others and grow a fan base that helps fund your music is quite another thing.
What if you don’t know anything about sales or marketing? How do you get your music out to more people and how to do you make money off of your music so you can continue to make albums and be creative, maybe even make a living? According to a recent study by www.edgeonline.com.au, only 25% of people call in a expert to pursue their dreams, 100% of those 25% have proven successful in their endeavors.
Here are some thoughts…
Via GotCredit Flickr
People Pay For The Value You Create
At the end of the day all income or money is generated by someone adding value to someone else’s life. Business and sales are simply the art of creating value in the lives of others. Whether it’s selling you a car that helps you get to work or selling you a great meal at a beautiful restaurant, each add value to your life. The music business is no different.
For years people have paid for music because it adds value to their lives. It makes them feel a certain way. Music is awesome! That’s why you’re reading this website right now.
The same is true for concerts. The live performance is a unique experience that adds value to people’s lives so they are willing to pay for it. Whether the actual product (CD, MP3 purchase) or the experience (live show, concert), both are ways an artist has created value and sold it to you. And you were happy to pay.
You Add Value With More Than Your Recordings
So the key with YOUR music is to not just think about creating great music, but creating something that is valuable to other people. This can be way more than just your actual recordings.
Some examples: live shows, online performances, behind the scenes videos, Q&A Skype sessions, lyric explanation videos, demos, live acoustic recordings, covers, collaborations, PDFs of your original notes and lyrics on paper, merchandise like t-shirts, mugs, wrist bands, etc.
These days, more than ever, fans want to be really connected to their favorite artists. The beauty of being an indie band or artist is that you can offer your fans way more access than ever before. Music is just the beginning, the foundation for a total experience that can add massive value to your fans.
Give Away Your Best Thing For Free
So what can you practically do to market your music to more people and eventually generate income from your passion? You’ll need to build a relationship with potential fans, one in which they are happy to offer you their email address in exchange for something.
You want their email address because you want to better interact with them directly and offer them more amazing stuff in the future. You’ll want to let them know when you’ll be playing a show in their area, or when your newest EP is out, or your latest music video, etc.
But to secure this relationship you’ll need to offer value to them first. You need to give away your best thing for free.
This could be your EP (like I did most recently), which is hard. It’s your baby. It’s the whole point of why you do what you do. But remember, it’s not the only way you create value in people’s lives. It is, however, the foundation for everything else you can do for your fans.
The idea here is simply create fan loyalty from Day 1. Why mess around and offer something lame. Give them your best stuff free, start a relationship, and then continue to show them other ways you can add value to their lives with either free stuff or paid stuff.
Some Tactics That Will Really Help
So a while back I came across a guy named Ben Sword who runs a website called Music Marketing Classroom. He’s a fellow musician and entrepreneur whose expertise is marketing for musicians. I literally watched all of his videos and was blown away by how much he gives away.
One video in particular called “The Napkin Plan” was a genius business model for the modern musician that can totally revolutionize the way you grow a fan base and market your stuff.
I asked him if I could hook you guys up with some of his free content so you can get training from someone who really knows what he’s talking about in this area. He has way more experience in music marketing than I do and I learned a ton from these videos.
Just for you guys, check out this link and start watching his stuff. It’s absolutely free and if you take notes and take action I’m sure you’ll see awesome results.
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My name is Graham Cochrane and I'm the founder of The Recording Revolution, one of the world's most loved audio recording and mixing blogs with over 200,000 readers each month. 
I’ll definitely take a look to Ben’s site.
Thanks Graham!
Another great post, Graham! Thank you for the tips. I’ve always struggled to find ways to market my music and you’ve already given me some ideas of things I should try.
By the way, is it just me or there are lots of broken links on Ben’s site? Couldn’t check any of his stuff. 🙁
Thanks Graham for the information! This couldn’t come at a better time because I am about to start pursuing this very thing! Note to the readers: you are not the only one experiencing broken links. I was able to access it soon after he posted this article, but going back since then I have encountered trouble. Just wanted to let everyone know!
Thanks for the interesting post. I also recommend Bobby Owsinski’s “Music 3.0” blog. Bobby posts stuff five days a week about modern music marketing. He’s a big proponent of what you’re discussing above: using your music as your biggest marketing tool to reach your fans. Gone are the days of selling millions of records (unless you’re Beyonce or Taylor Swift); today’s music business is about your music as the gateway to being able to sell other products (T-shirts, concert tickets, bonus content, etc.)
Here’s a link to the blog: http://music3point0.blogspot.com/
Looks like Graham is right there on the cutting edge!
Bobby’s other blog (about music production) is also excellent:
http://bobbyowsinski.blogspot.com/
Graham, thanks again for the great website!
cheers graham,
the link to Bens site isnt working – Error 500.
I think we crashed Ben’s server! He’s working on it currently. Stay tuned!
Great point of view about Marketing in indie music! Thank you Graham! I’m excited to check Ben Sword’s videos but the links are down 🙁 please can you check bro?
Yeah, seems we crashed his server 🙂 He’s aware of it and is working on it. Stay tuned!
Excellent article, as always.
But, I have to mention (and I mean this as constructive criticism), you use the word “literally” waaaaaaaaaaaay too often (especially in your videos). Might wanna check that a little.
I will literally check that out 🙂
Hey Graham,
I am a Mexican musician and I’m starting to record my own music. I just released my first single about 2 months ago. I have learned lots of good things from you and I just wanted to say thanks for all your recording lessons. I enjoy watching your videos. GOD BLESS YOU!
Congrats!
Is this guy legit? The reason I say, his video has like 180 views. I know he knows his info but yeah…
Was about to say the same thing John. His # of youtube views is hardly a vote of confidence. Doubt he’s making “good money” with his music.
Still love your site and what you do Graham!
I have to agree with John and Nate. I think your readers would be better served by the “Music Marketing Manifesto” from John Oszajca.
http://www.musicmarketingmanifesto.com/
BTW, I have no affiliation what-so-ever. Just a happy customer.
I love the mentality of giving here. It seems so counterintuitive especially in our culture to just give away our projects we put our blood sweat in tears into. Someone once said that money is the secondary action to a primary result. So it makes sense that as musicians our primary focus when it comes to marketing should be to build our relationships and trust with our audience. Great article Graham.
Thanks, I might need this.